A recent article published in the US by Convenience.org, reports that 'going out' to a fuel station is starting to become the norm. Read on.
While convenience stores have long been road trip staples, research shows that consumer perception of c-stores is changing—they are becoming places that “people go out of their way to visit,” Placer.ai reported in a recent whitepaper.
The foot traffic software company stated that between April 2023 and March 2024, convenience stores experienced consistent year-over-year growth, generally outperforming overall retail. In November and December, retail came out ahead with overall visits, likely heightened by holiday shoppers visiting malls and superstores, but c-stores quickly regained their foot traffic lead in January.
The whitepaper highlighted Casey’s, Maverik, Buc-ee’s and Rutter’s as leaders in the US c-store space, noting their investments in product offerings and physical spaces as helping to “transform the humble c-store from a stop along the way into a bona fide destination.”
Placer.ai said that while chain expansion may explain some of the c-store traffic growth, visit-per-location trends show that demand has grown at the store level as well. Over the past year (April 2023 to March 2024), average visits per location on an industry-wide basis grew by 1.8%, compared to the year prior (April 2022 to 2023).
Casey’s saw the average number of visits to each of its locations increase by 2.3% over the same time frame—while Maverik, Buc-ee’s and Rutter’s saw visits per location increase by 3.2%, 3.4% and 3.9%, respectively.
In the whitepaper, Placer.ai said that Casey’s and Maverik’s breakfast offerings are likely helping both retailers increase their share of morning visits. In Q1 2024, 16.3% of visits to Maverik and 17.5% of visits to Casey’s took place during the 7:00a.m - 10:00 a.m. daypart, compared to just 14.9% of visits to the wider c-store category.
Original article at C-Stores Are Travel Destinations | NACS (convenience.org)
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